Concord Hosts Fayetteville State, Winston-Salem State in MEC-CIAA Challenge

Concord Stats - Fayetteville State Stats - Winston-Salem State Stats - Charleston Stats - Live Video - Live Stats (Charleston vs. Winston-Salem State) - Live Stats (Concord vs. Fayetteville State) - Live Stats (Charleston vs. Fayetteville State) - Live Stats (Concord vs. Winston-Salem State) - Live Audio  - Complete Game Notes - Challenge Central

ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University men's basketball team will host the MEC-CIAA Challenge Friday and Saturday at the Carter Center as the University of Charleston, Fayetteville State and Winston-Salem State will all be playing in the weekend slate. Charleston faces Winston-Salem State at 2:00 p.m. before CU takes on Fayetteville State at 4:00 p.m. Friday. On Saturday, the Golden Eagles oppose FSU and the Mountain Lions will host WSSU at 5:00 and 7:00 p.m., respectively.

LIVE COVERAGE
Video: Live streaming video for all four games this weekend will be made available by the Concord University Sports Information Department
Stats: The Concord University Sports Information Department will provide live in-game statistics for all games as well.
Audio: Jason Reed will have live play-by-play of both Concord's games on 97.3 FM and locally on www.mywillie.com

To access the live links, follow above or at the top of the page.

MOUNTAIN LION NOTES
A season ago, the Mountain Lions captured the Mountain East Conference Tournament Championship and went 22-10 on their way to the NCAA Tournament.

Gone from that team is All-MEC performers Terry Hopewell, Rob Reed and Jametrius Wade. Reed was also an all-region selection and MEC Tournament MVP in 2015-16.

Senior guard Aaron Miller is the leading returner scorer for the Mountain Lions as he scored 16.0 points per game last season while shooting nearly 50 percent from the field (49.2 percent).

Fellow senior guard Michael Sanchez averaged 9.5 points and 4.3 assists per game while Cam Shannon, another senior guard scored 5.8 points off the bench last season.

Also returning for CU is senior forward Stephen Thompson, junior forward Babe Murphy, junior guard Cal Cistaro and sophomore guard Tommy Bolte.

Thompson and Murphy were backup forwards for CU last season, but both had important minutes, most notably for Thompson in the MEC semifinal against West Liberty when he was tasked with guarding the league's best scorer last season, Seger Bonifant.

Redshirt freshmen guards Trey Brisco, Cam Carvelli and Colby Hill and forward Mike Hall also return for Concord. After a redshirt year, junior guard BJ Hamlet returns. Two seasons ago, Hamlet averaged 5.1 points per game.

Along with five new recruits, head coach Todd May will be making his head coaching debut at CU after four seasons as an assistant at Concord.

May hired assistant coach Adam Blake during the summer.

The new players to the program are junior college transfers Troy Gibson, Augustine Mathias and Quincy Poitier along with freshmen Patrick Eugene and Pierce Mowery.

Since the beginning of the 2010 season, the Mountain Lions are 20-6 in non-conference games including going 5-1 last season against opponents outside the MEC.

Additionally in that same time span, Concord is 6-2 against teams from the CIAA, the conference both opponents are from this weekend.

CU has also won four straight games against the CIAA, all in the MEC-CIAA Challenge to open up the last two seasons.

Last season, the Mountain Lions outlasted Winston-Salem State, 83-79, to open up the last season.

In the process, CU picked up its first ever win against WSSU. Sanchez scored 18 points in the game and handed out seven assists.

It was one of eight games last season in which the Salinas, Puerto Rico native had seven or more assists in a game.

Sanchez's best work against the Rams came at the foul line as he went 15-for-17 from the charity stripe. It was the only time last season that Sanchez made double-digit foul shots and one of two times that he attempted 10 or more.

Miller scored 15 points in last season's matchup with Winston-Salem State.

Miller has a knack for scoring in MEC-CIAA Challenges. In the last two seasons, Miller is averaging  22.5 points per game in MEC-CIAA Challenges.

Saturday will be the third time in the last four seasons the Mountain Lions take on Winston-Salem State.

CU fell 76-73 to the Rams on the road to start the 2013-2014 season. Of all current players, only Shannon played in that game, scoring six points.

A few Mountain Lions are nearing career accomplishments heading into the 2016-17 season.

Already a 1,200 point scorer, Miller needs 111 points to move into the top 20 all-time at Concord. Miller is currently 24th all-time on scoring list at CU.

Additionally, the Stephens City, Virginia native needs 10 three-pointers to pass Reed for seventh all-time.

Miller has connected on 178 triples in his career. Meanwhile, Hamlet can climb over former head coach Kent McBride for 25th in all-time made three-pointers at Concord.

Hamlet has been successful on 68 three-pointers in his career. Finally, Shannon needs 15 games played to join 35 other players at CU that have appeared in 100 games as a Mountain Lion.

SCOUTING FAYETTEVILLE STATE
Fayetteville State finished 14-15 last season and finished 6-9 against CIAA foes.

The Broncos have been selected to win the CIAA South Division in 2016-17.

FSU returns six of its top seven scorers from last season's team. Michael Tyson started all 29 games for the Broncos a season ago and averaged 16.6 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.

Josh Dawson scored 14.4 points, grabbed 3.7 rebounds and handed out 7.5 assists per game in 2015-16. Head coach Ken Spencer is in first season at FSU.

Previously, he was the head coach at St. Augustine's from 2010-12 where he compiled a 23-32 mark. 

SCOUTING WINSTON-SALEM STATE
WSSU went 11-17 last season and has been slotted second in the CIAA South behind Fayetteville State.

The Rams finished last season losing six straight games.

A season ago, opponents only shot 29.7 percent from three-point range against Winston-Salem State.

The Rams lost their top five scorers from last season, and the top returning scorer is William Crandell who averaged 6.9 points per game.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
4- Concord has won four straight games in the MEC-CIAA Challenge.

11-  May will be making his head coaching debut at CU on the same day former head coach Kent McBride did, November 11.

17-  CU compiled 19 combined home wins the last two seasons.